Ice Cream
by kevin the bird
Summary: "What?" Fred asked. "I like ice cream," he said, a smile cracking on his face. "Looks like it," Lucille said teasingly. Fred continued to eat Lucille's ice cream and Maggie ate hers.


Maggie's first relationship had been a serious one. Her and her boyfriend had gone out or a year and a half when he broke up with her because he had feelings for another girl. She was devastated. Her heart was broken. She didn't know what to do, so she stayed in her room for days on end, only coming out to go to the bathroom or to eat something. Fred had no idea what to do. He had never been able to connect with his daughter like that because that was a mother's area of expertise and he was terrible at dealing with his own emotions, so he had an even harder time helping his daughter deal with her own. That's when Lucille usually came in and helped him because she was like Maggie's second mother. Her and Henry had basically raised Maggie as her own because Fred was always at work and he owed them so much for it.

When it came up on the second week of Maggie staying in her room, Fred called Lucille and asked if she could come over, knowing she would be his best bet of getting his daughter out of her room. She, of course, agreed and came over, not before she stopped at the store and bought two cartons of ice cream, however.

When Lucille arrived and Fred opened the front door, he smiled at her appreciatively and let her inside. Lucille gave him a quick hug and then went to Maggie's room. Once she walked over to the closed door, she softly knocked and then let herself in, placing the bag of ice cream on the desk next to the door.

"Dad –" Maggie groaned, but she stopped herself when she realized it was her aunt and not her father. She rested back down in her bed and pulled her covers over her head, tears springing to her eyes at the sight of the woman who had become like a mother to her over the years. Lucille's heart broke at the sight, closed the door behind her and then walked over to the bed and sat down.

"Maggie, sweetheart," she said softly. "We're all worried about you, especially your father," she added, just as softly. Maggie moved the comforter down so she was looking at Lucille, tears still in her eyes. "Oh, honey," Lucille breathed as she moved a strand of hair away from Maggie's face. Tears started rolling down Maggie's cheeks at what Lucille was saying. She was glad to have someone other than her father to talk to because she knew how bad Fred was at dealing with emotions and she needed a woman's touch to deal with the heartbreak she was feeling.

"He has feelings for someone else, Auntie Lucille," Maggie said, her voice cracking. Lucille moved around on the bed so she was resting against the headboard and her legs where on top of the bed. Maggie rested her head in her aunt's lap as Lucille ran her fingers through her niece's hair comfortingly.

"Well, then he doesn't deserve someone as wonderful as you," Lucille responded, stating what everyone in the Langston family thought. Maggie just looked up at Lucille and gave her a watery smile. Lucille's heart broke even more at the smile her niece gave her and so she scooted down in the bed so she was lying in bed with Maggie, much like they did when Maggie was younger. Maggie just smiled at Lucille when her aunt was comfortable and scooted closer to her. Lucille wrapped hear arm around Maggie and the two of them just laid there for a couple of comfortable minutes. Lucille suddenly remembered the ice cream and sat up. She leaned over and grabbed both pints of ice cream she had brought.

"What're you doing?" Maggie asked, confusion evident in her voice. Lucille took out the first container of ice cream and a spoon and handed it to Maggie.

"Chocolate ice cream always helps," Lucille replied. Maggie smiled up at Lucille and sat up in bed so she was mirroring Lucille's position against the headboard. Lucille took her ice cream out of the bag, as well as her spoon, and both women started eating their ice cream. Silence fell over the room. Then that silence was broken when Fred walked into the room, unsure if the silence in the room was a good thing or a bad thing. When he noticed that Lucille and Maggie where eating ice cream, he became confused, but immediately pushed that out of his head because he knew that whatever Lucille was doing, it looked like it was working. This was the first time that he had walked into the room and Maggie didn't immediately tell him to get out.

"Feeling better, Mags?" he asked. Maggie looked over at her father and smiled before nodding her head.

"Yeah," she said and continued eating her ice cream. Fred walked over to the bed and sat down next to Lucille, who scooted over to give him more room.

"You want some?" Lucille asked as she looked up at her brother-in-law and offered him her ice cream. He shrugged his shoulders, took her spoon and carton of ice cream and started eating it. When he continued to eat it, both women looked at him and laughed.

"What?" he asked. "I like ice cream," he said, a smile cracking on his face.

"Looks like it," Lucille said teasingly. Fred continued to eat Lucille's ice cream and Maggie ate hers. Lucille then wrapped an arm around Maggie's shoulders and pulled her in close, the small family of aunts, nieces, brothers-in-law, fathers and daughters sitting in the room in comforting silence for a few minutes before they all got up and went about their day.


End file.
